Foreign Office admits it does not know how much money has been spent on Chagos deal so far
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Upon request, the government department was unable to produce a figure for how much has been spent on legal costs, travel costs and other expenses. The Foreign Office has admitted it doesn’t how much money has been spent on the Chagos Islands deal. The admission was made after The Independent submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), asking for details on how much money was handed to Mauritius as part of the deal, as well as asking for the other expenses involved in striking the deal.
![[David Lammy has repeatedly insisted the deal is a good one]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/04/10/2024-12-04T100903Z_1452079646_RC28IBAXX152_RTRMADP_3_NATO-DIPLOMACY.jpg)
The department admitted that details on how much money has been spent so far is “not centrally held and is not readily retrievable”, adding that responding to the request would take a “substantial amount of work and staff hours”. While the department said no money has yet been handed over to Mauritius directly as part of the deal as the treaty is still being finalised, it was unable to produce a figure for how much has been spent on legal costs, travel costs and other expenses.
![[The incoming Trump adminstration has raised concerns about the deal]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/13/21/HORARIO_DE_VERANO_08571.jpg)
It comes amid growing concern over the cost of the controversial deal to the taxpayer, as question marks hang over whether or not the deal will succeed as a result of ambivalence from the new Mauritian government and the incoming Trump administration.
The government announced in October it had reached a political agreement to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following negotiations which began in 2022. The prime minister and his foreign secretary David Lammy have insisted they had no choice but to hand over the islands, including Diego Garcia where the UK and US have their major air base.
